Agent08 Reporting for Duty!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Neither this song that is titled for this chapter.

"..." - talking
italic font - thoughts
(A/N: my interruptions)

Symptoms of You

Two months had passed since the spine tingling kiss had happened. Touya came at the end of the first month, just like he was assigned to do at the end of every month, and saw that everything was in order. He did seem suspicious as to what was going on between Syaoran and Sakura. They hadn't spoken to each other normally ever since the little accident. Touya could automatically sense something wrong.

"Everything seems to be in order," Touya had said, just two weeks ago when he visited at the end of the month. "You guys worked really hard. I'm surprised you managed to clean everything, kaiju!"

Syaoran and Sakura, on either side of the room, had just nodded away to everything that Touya was saying. He noticed something was wrong when Sakura didn't squash his foot after he called her by the name that she hated. Something was up. And he didn't like it.

"Hey, kaiju," Touya said, emphasizing the word "kaiju" when he said it. "Kaiju! Can I have a word with you?"

He was hoping to get his little sister's attention if he said it more clearly. But when she gave no attention to him, and the name she hated being called, he began to get worried.

He began to think that Syaoran had done something to Sakura. Like he had hurt her physically, or called her a mean name. The both of them probably knew what he would do if Syaoran did anything like that. He'd probably start a riot and King Kinomoto would have to call in fifty guards to make sure nothing serious happened.

Sakura nodded after finally hearing her big brother, and walked over to a corner in the living room, where he began to speak. She could feel Syaoran's eyes on her. Watching intently if she was going to spill the beans on what happened two nights prior to this date. She couldn't though. They both knew it. Touya would have a fit.

"What's going on, big brother?" Sakura asked, hoping she'd sound as interested as possible to her brother's ears.

"Cut the curious act with me, kaiju - argh!" Touya said, finally receiving a pound on his foot from his little sister's heel.

"Stop calling me that!" Sakura said, her face red as a tomato. "I've told you that a million times before! Why won't you get a clue?"

"You didn't say it before," Touya answered.

Sakura blinked. "What?" she asked.

"I called you a 'kaiju' three times today. I had to say it one more time before you actually noticed and squashed my toes!"

Sakura blinked again. "W - Well...I - I haven't been paying much attention to you...and I'm sorry about it...But I have some things on my mind that I - "

"Like what?" Touya asked curiously.

Sakura twiddled her thumbs nervously, not knowing what to say. Her gaze was glued to the floor, and she began to trace the floor with the tips of her toes. She even began to blush a tiny shade of bright pink, but she recovered too quickly for Touya to even notice.

"Err - It's - It's nothing! Just some housework...stuff like that,"

Touya narrowed his eyes, and nodded. "Housework...right..." he replied, walking through the front door. "Well, good job this month, you guys. I'll come back next time, and I'll be sure to report back to Father as soon as possible. See you soon, kaiju!"

Sakura went for another stomp on his foot, but missed, making her foot hit the floor with a loud thud, as he swiped it out of the way. He smiled at her the way every big brother does to his younger sister, and she glared at him long enough to bore a whole into him.

Syaoran sighed, and wiped fake sweat off of his forehead. "Phew!" He said, trying to make normal conversation between himself and Sakura. "I'm glad that's over."

Sakura just smiled weakly, and walked into the bedroom where she hoped he wouldn't follow her, just like he did the night after they had kissed.

"...Hey, Kinomoto?" Syaoran asked, just a day after the kiss happened. Sakura was in the bedroom, staring blankly out the window. She turned her head quite slowly, and faced him.

"Yes?" she asked as if everything was normal.

"I just wanted to talk to you about that ki - "

" - I'd rather not..." Sakura interrupted, turning to face the window again.

Syaoran walked to where she was standing. Sakura shifted uncomfortably, but nonetheless, she kept on looking out the window, not wanting to face Syaoran.

"We have to sometime. You know that," he said.

Sakura made no reply. She didn't know what to say, and she feared that if she opened her mouth, she would say something that she'd regret. So she kept quiet, and concentrated on a tree out the window, as if it were the most interesting thing she's ever seen.

"Kinomoto," Syaoran said, bending his head downward so he could try and look her in the eye. "Why do you keep avoiding my eyes?"

Sakura felt her face grow hot. She didn't answer him back, and when she didn't, he did something that he knew he shouldn't have done. Especially after the kiss.

He took her chin, and raised her face up. Sakura stood on her tip-toes, and looked him in the eye. The thing that she was trying to avoid as best she could. But she had no choice. Not now. He wanted her to look him in the eye, and that's what she was going to do.

They stayed in that position for only God knows how long. They didn't stop looking at each other's eyes until Sakura finally realized what she was doing. She shook her head vigorously, as if shaking termites off of her head, and cleared her throat.

"Um...I'm going to bed," Sakura said, walked towards her bed, and stumbling when she hit her ankle on the leg of the bed.

"Kinomoto - " Syaoran began, but was cut off.

" - I have to go to bed," Sakura answered, and quietly tucked herself in.

Which brought them to this month. Things didn't get better. Not by a long shot. After that one night, they spoke rarely, only to say "please", "thanks", or "excuse me". Syaoran was the only one out of the two that even tried to make things better. Sakura didn't even bother, because she knew that after the night of the kiss, things would never be the same. Maybe she was wrong, and things WERE going to be the same. If everything did, then it wouldn't be until a long time.

They spent the next few months by themselves, just thinking and trying to sort things out. But more than often, they found themselves thinking about each other, and that was the last thing they wanted to think about. It was so unusual. Whenever they would think about one thing, they would always find a way to make that thought lean towards the person that they didn't want to think about.

"Hmm..." Sakura said one afternoon on the porch. The sun was bright, and it beat down onto her bright auburn hair. Her hair flowed in every direction, and for once during this whole summer, she actually felt a nice breeze.

"I wonder what Syaoran's doing right now..." she said out loud. Realizing what she had just said, she smacked herself in the forehead with the palm of her hand. "Stupid!" She scolded. "Don't think about him! Think about something else! Think about...um..."

So as you could obviously see, Sakura struggled to not think about Syaoran. She thought it would be easy, after all, she did hate his guts...It looked like she guessed wrong.

There was only but one thing left for her to do, that she hoped would keep her from thinking about that blasted Prince. She began to hum a sweet, soft melody. A tune that she hoped would express all the confusion and tension there was between them. She hummed it all away, out of her soul and into the cool air.

"Flowers!" Sakura suddenly said. "I'll think about flowers! I love flowers. They smell so good. I love cherry blossoms, too! My favorite flower in the whole world. Father likes tulips. Big brother likes roses...Syaoran likes peonies...Argh!"

Once again, she thought of him. She didn't mean to. It was so unusual because she didn't want to think about him! So why was she? Only insane people struggled to keep thoughts of people they didn't want to think about away, but never really succeeded. So maybe she was insane, she was fine with that.

To her, being insane was a lot better than thinking she had Syaoran on the brain.

Hum, hum, hum. Pause. Hum, hum, hum. Just keep humming.

xxxxxx

With Syaoran it wasn't much of a differen't case. It was definitely like the same thing. He thought about one thing, and somehow found a way to connect it with Sakura. It was like they shared a brain.

"Sakura. Stupid Sakura! Who does she think she is, ignoring me?" Syaoran said to himself as he stared out the window in the bedroom he shared with Sakura. Gruffly, he opened the window to get some fresh air. He was greeted with a soft breeze, and the beautiful tune the woman he was trying to ignore was currently belting.

"I...never knew," he said simply, letting his head rest on his palms, "her voice is so beautiful." But within an instant, he was smacking himself on the forehead and shutting the window closed. "Stop thinking about her!" He scolded himself, "How hard can this be? Just think of something else! Anything else but her,"

xxxxxx

Sakura slouched in her seat. She was sitting in the old rocking chair that Syaoran had just recently fixed. She remembered so clearly the day she broke it. Well, how SOPHIE broke it. She was causing trouble, trying to force Sophie into feeling that she didn't want to be there. Her plan backfired. Because if it had worked, than she wouldn't be in this situation with Syaoran at the moment.

And then she heard a nearby window shut closed. Her head snapped upwards, looking into the direction of where she thought she heard the noise. "Syaoran..." she mumbled, "I wonder why he closed it so harshly. He must be angry or something." She crossed her arms firmly across her chest, "But why should I care?"

Why was she thinking about him? She tried to not think about him so many times, but it was like that her brain wasn't functioning. When she came up with the explanation that she was insane, she thought: Insane people don't know they're insane, do they?

So, she came up with the explanation that she was sick. Sick people know they're sick! Of course.

But she knew she was only making up stupid excuses. She was thinking about Syaoran, and for the oddest reason she could not think of, she liked it.

xxxxxx

Although Syaoran was basically in the same situation as Sakura, he didn't like thinking about her. Not one bit. He thought he was going crazy! He came up with the same excuse as Sakura...you're crazy if you think about the person you don't want to be thinking about. But he knew he wasn't crazy. So...

"I'm sick!" He shouted. "The only reason I'm thinking about her is because I'm sick!"

He nodded approvingly to himself, and lay flat on his bed, his hands behind his head, feeling relaxed. "I'm sick..." He said again, drifting off into sleep. Dreaming about no one, but Sakura.

And it was true. They were both very sick indeed. Suffering from nothing other than -

Symptoms of her.

Symptoms of him.

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Excuse the length of this chapter, please! Read and Review!

Signing Off,
Agent08 - My life as a secret agent xD